Illustrative image (Photo: VNA) Hanoi (VNA) –The Vietnam Tourism Association (VITA) in conjunction with the VietnamE-Commerce Association (VECOM) on September 30 organised an online forum on digital transformation to promote Vietnam's tourism development in the context of global COVID-19 outbreak.
The event offered a good chance for travel agencies to approach the theory andpractice of applying new technologies in tourism business, especially gettingmore information on technologies supplied by leading technology corporationsin the world such as Google, Booking.com, and Facebook.
Addressing the forum, Deputy Minister of Culture, Sports and Tourism Nguyen VanHung said the event is an important solution to help restoreand promote the country's tourism development sustainably, adding that digitaltransformation is an inevitable development trend of tourism and it needs to beaccelerated after heavy impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to VITA Vice Chairman Vu TheBinh, international visitors to Vietnam in 2020is likely to decrease by at least 70 percent compared to 2019, while the numberof domestic visitors will be reduced by 50 percent, and the revenue fromtourism activities will fall over 61 percent.
This extremely difficult situation requires tourism businesses to adjust theirstrategies to quickly recover and gain growth again when the pandemic is undercontrol, he said, adding that comprehensive digital transformation is partof these strategies.
Through digital transformation, travelagencies can reach more travellers, provide better care to customers, reducecosts and increase business efficiency, he said.
Digital transformation is an inevitable trend which helps businesses improvetheir competitiveness, he added.
Participants to the eventwere updated on demand, trends and digital transformation capability.
In the framework of the forum, a showroom of technological products was arranged for a number oftechnology businesses to introduce their products.
VITA has planned to organise other events to help Vietnamese tourism firms access new technological solutionstowards recovering and further promoting their business amid the COVID-19pandemic./.
VNA
